How mercy can help America heal from a bitter political season

...This has been the craziest, wildest, strangest political year on record, and not only for Christians. Tensions have run high all year, and there seemed to be no “social release valve” that we could turn to make them go away. Not even voting.

Many have associated Pope Francis with the phrase “go make a mess.” Sometimes they read this critically - hearing something anarchical in those words -and sometimes they recognize that what the Holy Father intended was a re-ordering of our relations with one another, with the world, and most fundamentally and finally, with God.

That second interpretation has to do with God’s mercy being the “social release valve” we need most - Divine, miraculous assistance to heal our disordered desires, our messed up relations...